GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group
Drives on 18 at Olympia Fields
Martin Del Vecchio:
I watched the last two rounds of the Open via TiVo, so I missed some of the commentary. However...
What the heck was going on with the drives on 18? It's a 460 yard hole, and many of the tee shots I saw were in the 350-yard range, leaving the players only a wedge to the green. It looked like Tiger had a half-wedge on Sunday. The commentators seemed to joke about it a lot, but I didn't hear anybody point this out as an example of how technology has changed golf.
Is this hole substantially downhill? Was the wind helping that much? The USGA didn't keep stats on the drives on 18, so I don't have any specifics. They have stats for #1 (281.0) and for #6 (294.9); those numbers are for the entire field for all 4 days.
I also noticed that Furyk and Leaney had an awful lot of short-iron approach shots on the back 9. To me, this is the weakness of either 1) the Olympia Fields course, or 2) technology.
For the US Open, at least, I want to see driver/4-iron on 18.
Ken_Cotner:
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For the US Open, at least, I want to see driver/4-iron on 18.
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Have to wait for Pebble or Torrey Pines. ;)
BCrosby:
Intermurph -
Titlest says everything is ok so I wouldn't worry about it.
Bob
Martin Del Vecchio:
Here is the description of #18 from the USGA Open web site:
462 yards, par 4
Another big par 4 played into the wind on most days. The tee shot must split two fairway bunkers, leaving a mid-to-long iron into the huge, sloping green. The best play here is a drive between the two fairway bunkers that lands short of the third bunker. The green itself is the most sinister on the golf course with tough-to-read right-to-left and back-to-front breaks. Even the best players in the world will three putt this green from time to time. This hole will provide a memorable conclusion to four days of intense competition.
So 462 yards into the wind, mid-to-long-iron, to a sinister green; that's what I would like to see. Could the wind direction and strength been such a huge factor?
I guess the Strata ball goes as far as the Titleist, but has the 18th-hole 3-putt built in.
George Pazin:
I think our native Chicagoans on board have indicated that the normal prevailing wind was nowhere to be found & many of the brutes played downwind instead.
Not that wind ever helps me hit a drive 350....
Bob Crosby, that is one extremely funny line - I almost spit my drink out onto my computer.
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